Pow Sing Restaurant - nice family restaurant in Serangoon Garden

If we were to do a Word Association Test and “Pow Sing” was mentioned we might have quickly said “Chicken Rice”. After all, Pow Sing Hainanese Chicken Rice stall had been selling chicken rice in Serangoon Garden since the early 1980s. Today the eatery is simply known as Pow Sing Restaurant and it offers much more than just chicken rice. It has become a very popular neighbourhood restaurant with a wide variety of dishes including Nonya delicacies and curry fish head.

Pow Sing was started by Hainanese gentlemen Mr Lee Chin Soo and Mr Steven Tan. Pow Sing Hainanese Chicken Rice stall was opened at the place where Pow Sing Restaurant now stands. Right at the entrance of Pow Sing Restaurant you still see chickens on display and the chef still dishes out chicken rice there like in the old days. The difference is that we can now have the chicken rice in air-conditioned comfort and enjoy it with many other dishes as well.

Pow Sing Restaurant Menu

The Pow Sing Restaurant Menu is quite extensive. There are seafood, nonya dishes, Hainanese dishes, one dish meals and other zhi char style food. Below are photos of random sections of the menu.

Dinner at Pow Sing

We went to Pow Sing Restaurant in Serangoon Garden for dinner recently. We ordered the Nonya Ngoh Hiang ($12), Fried Sambal Ikan Selar ($6) and Hainanese Chicken Rice ($10 for the chicken and $1 per plate of rice).

The Ngoh Hiang did not look very appetizing – brown and charred – but looks often deceived. The Ngoh Hiang was delectable. The five spice roll had thin crispy skin and was packed with flavourful ingredients of minced meat and vegetable bits.

The Fried Sambal Ikan Selar was a simple dish of deep fried fish that was enjoyable mainly because of the good sambal chilli.

The chicken rice had nice colour and the scent of chicken stock. It was not oily. The taste of the rice, however, lacked the full flavour of chicken rice which we liked. The chicken was tender and drenched with a light sauce. On its own, the chicken was good but not outstanding. Perhaps the best thing about Pow Sing chicken rice was the chilli sauce. With a bit of the sweet, tangy and spicy sauce added, everything tasted so much better.

Pow Sing Restaurant in Serangoon Gardens is an unpretentious neighbourhood restaurant with a wide variety of dishes. There is nothing too fancy but you can get a good meal there with the family. It gets crowded and noisy during peak meal times. Otherwise, eating at Pow Sing Restaurant could feel like eating at home. Perhaps at the mention of “Pow Sing”, instead of “chicken rice”, “family meal” may now spring to mind.